Comments on: Valeria Is A Dark Autumn

By: Christine Scaman

Christine Scaman — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 21:34:56 +0000

Nicki,
Glad you brought this up, but you answered your own Q. I don’t think NATURAL dark or black brows are ageing, I think they’re simply stunningly beautiful. On any colouring.
Nature will never give you colour anywhere that is less than perfect. You’re born colour-coded to match, hair, skin, eyes, veins, tans, teeth, everything. What I think is ageing is when brows or hair are darkened. That looks severe and older and the viewer can pick it out a mile away.
The opposite is true too. Some dark Seasons have naturally light brows, almost invisible. And that looks awesome and should be left alone. Define them with a dark blonde pencil a little, but don’t paint them in to match your hair.

By: Nicki

Nicki — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:03:13 +0000

Hi, I’ve read a couple of entries regarding autumn colouring on your blog and in each one you describe dark colours/ black as severe and ageing. This is your opinion of course but I’d like to know why you think dark eyebrows are ageing? I know many women with naturally dark eyebrows who look great and do not look aged. I have natural black eyebrows and a lovely natural shape which I constantly get compliments on. I personally would rather have full dark brows than thin and/ or sparse light coloured brows. And I think the majority of polished well groomed women out there would agree. Why else would there be women from various racial/ ethnic backgrounds tinting or penciling in their eyebrows? Audrey Hepburn, Jennifer Connelly, Rachel Weisz, Camilla Belle and Brooke Shields spring to mind when I think of dark eyebrows. And Megan Fox is one celebrity that I can think of that looks better off with her full (even though they’re fake) black eyebrows than her old mousy brown eyebrows which were terribly thin and sparse.

By: Christine Scaman

Christine Scaman — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 18:53:30 +0000

Yes, they’re all DA drapes. If you saw them IRL, some would seem different to you. Cameras always change things and these images are being reflected in a mirror.

By: Cat Naughton

Cat Naughton — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 21:22:13 +0000

Atre are all the fabrics that Valerie is swathed in – in the pics on this page – suitable for adark autumn?

By: luana

luana — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 22:30:16 +0000

Valeria you look wonderful with your new colors!The gold fabric and green one are really stunning on you!

By: Jo

Jo — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 20:19:35 +0000

Hi Adriane,

Your comment got me thinking. My makeup has evolved so much over the years, and a lot of the changes I have made have been due to the slow realisation that I need a lot of pigment – in the right places. Christine always says that if you pick colours that exist in you, it is surprising how deep you can take those colours. I always thought that fair skin meant that I shouldn’t put too much colour on – it would look like crude paint. Experience, a developing critical eye, colour analysis and discussions like these have slowly led me to change my mind.

My natural colouring is fair skin, very pale lips, short eyelashes in mid brown and no natural cheek colour. Without harmoniously balancing lips, cheeks and eyes, my face is a fairly featureless expanse. The gravatar pic I use is 6 years old now, from a time when I thought a whisk of tinted moisturiser, a nude lipstick and soft smudge of eyeliner and mascara was enough.

Nowadays I know soooooo much better. I use deeper lipstick to balance the intensity of my hair (I may be a dark autumn, but I am also fairly high contrast for a DA, brown and cream rather than HIGH contrast black and white of a Winter). I use blusher now, a very light sweep of an intense colour, and my eyeliner and brows balance my hair.

When I see myself reflected in shop windows I no longer see a pale blob of a face, instead I see a face with features. Nothing sticks out – no garish lips or clown like cheeks, just real features. But if I leave the eyeliner off, or forget to refresh my lipstick, the blandness creeps back.

Maybe I should get another pic done. Grin.

Contrast has such a huge part to play in colour analysis (and it is something that I didn’t even realise mattered until recently). I guess the low contrast people are probably the ones who do better without makeup. The high contrasts, unless they have naturally striking eyebrows, lashes and the intensly pigmented lips of youth are going to need a bit of makeup help…

By: Christine Scaman

Christine Scaman — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 10:42:26 +0000

Lucretia,
The difficulty for me with photos is that I can be right some of the time. I can usually get it down to the last 2 Seasons, but not always. There is just so much variation even within 1 Season.

Adriane,
No, I don’t make any connections there Adriane. As soon as we artificially enhance something, it’s hard for everything else to compete. Unless the lipstick is a sheer flesh-tone, I think you’d see the effect you describe across the board. Rather like wearing mascara and nothing else.

By: Adriane

Adriane — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 16:25:09 +0000

I am still in awe at how beautiful and in harmony Valeria and her colors look together. In terms of her lip color, and in terms of lip colors for all of the seasons…what does it mean when a lip color appears to wash the complexion out without the addition of eye makeup? Does it suggest that the color is generally slightly off, in some way, or perhaps too weak? Should one aim for a lip color which is vital enough to give the face some life without the addition of masc, e/l, and so forth? I know that eye/lip color balance is important, but I am just wondering if this scenario suggests anything about the basic rightness/wrongness of the shade or intensity. Thanks!

By: Lucretia

Lucretia — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 13:56:23 +0000

Well, this is a good demonstration of how little credit is to be given to color analysis done through photos, I think. I myself got “analysed” at colorhelp.stylemakeovers.com, resulting in a cool summer which I definitely am not, because I get asked what’s wrong with me anytime I wear pastels near my face. Valeria being analysed as a soft summer and turning out to be a dark autumn further validates the point. She looks radiant in all these drapes and this is clearly her season, which, in backsight, seems quite obvious: such intensity and warmth cannot be overlooked.

By: Christine Scaman

Christine Scaman — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 20:35:38 +0000

Itari,

You know, Bright Springs can make color analysts nervous because of their superficial resemblance to Autumns, and yet hopeless intolerance for the Autumn colors.